“I’ve never been so disappointed in a hockey club in my seven years here.”
Soo Greyhounds coach John Dean didn’t hold back in his disappointment Saturday night.
The Sudbury Wolves took advantage of four power plays in the third period, which included a 5-on-3 that saw the Wolves score twice in a 6-3 come-from-behind win over the Greyhounds Saturday at the GFL Memorial Gardens.
“It’s utterly embarrassing,” Dean said in discussing the Greyhounds discipline in the loss. “The players, they need to wear this one.”
The Wolves finished the night 3-for-7 on the man advantage in the win.
“It’s super disappointing that we’re going to waste valuable minutes on teaching guys how to be disciplined and (how to) compete in the right way without taking a penalty,” Dean said on how the Greyhounds will look to rebound.
Dean agreed that Saturday was the most upset he’s been in his time as coach of the Greyhounds.
Wolves coach Scott Barney spoke following the game of the importance of special teams, adding that it’s factored into both of Sudbury’s games to open the season.
“Special teams can win or lose games,” Barney said. “Last night (against Barrie), it probably cost us a game and tonight it probably won us a game. That’s a big part of hockey. You can win championships that way and you can lose them.”
Barney said he wasn’t happy with the Wolves start in the win, but some adjustments factored in for the visitors.
“We came out a little sloppy at the beginning,” Barney said. “We changed a few things up there going into the third period and it brought us some success.”
Barney said discipline factored in for the Wolves, which includes game details in addition to staying out of the penalty box.
“Pretty disciplined by our guys,” Barney said. “Some of those guys that were here last year, it would have been the other way around.”
The Greyhounds opened the scoring as Justin Cloutier scored on a rebound after Sudbury goaltender Finn Marshall stopped a point shot by Spencer Evans initially at 4:46.
With 3:30 to go in the opening period, the Wolves tied the game at one as Lucas Di Giantommaso took a shot from the slot that beat Greyhounds starter Charlie Schenkel glove side.
Nick DeAngelis gave the Wolves a 2-1 lead with 1:41 to go in the opening period as he beat Schenkel with a shot from the point through traffic on the power play.
The Greyhounds tied the game in the middle stanza when Justin Cloutier took a pass from Brady Smith while entering the Wolves zone and skated in before beating Marshall with a shot shorthanded at 6:23.
Just over two minutes later, rookie forward Erik Muxlow grabbed a neutral zone turnover, skated into the Wolves zone and beat Marshall to give the Greyhounds a 3-2 lead.
Sudbury tied the game at three just under 11 minutes into the third period. On a two-man advantage, Nick DeAngelis beat Schenkel low glove side on a point shot for the Wolves.
Just 1:03 later, with the Wolves still on the power play, Kocha Delic had his initial shot from the left circle blocked. The puck deflected to Kieron Walton in the right circle. Walton proceeded to beat Schenkel to give the Wolves a 4-3 lead.
The Wolves capped off the scoring in the final minute with empty net goals by Chase Coughlan and Blake Clayton.
Schenkel made 25 saves for the Greyhounds in the loss.
DeAngelis finished the night with two goals and an assist for the Wolves while Walton also had three points with a goal and two assists.
Di Giantommaso had a goal and an assist.
Delic assisted on two goals.
Marshall stopped 21 shots.
The Wolves move to 1-1-0-0 early on in the young season while the Greyhounds fall to 0-2-0-0.
The Greyhounds return to action Thursday night as the team opens the road portion of its regular season schedule with a game against the Windsor Spitfires. The three-game trip will also see the team take on the Guelph Storm on Friday night and the Sarnia Sting on Sunday afternoon.
Veteran forward Marco Mignosa missed his second consecutive game due to illness.
Defenceman Brodie McConnell-Barker also remains out of the lineup due to an injury suffered in the first game of pre-season play.